Monday, April 11, 2011

That Was A Surprise...

A couple months ago when Lauri asked if I wanted to do Bakers Dozen with her and Ben, I said I had to think about it. After the last time I raced there I said I wouldn't go back. The course is kind of fun, but I am not a fan of the promoters. After a lot of asking by L Webb, I agreed to race. I figured at least it will be good training.

As the race got closer I started riding a bit more, then I got sick a few weeks before the race, I was going to bail out. L Webb was dealing with a knee issue and tried to pull out earlier. Ben had a shoulder issue as well, so we were the walking wounded. I managed to get in a solid week and a half of training before the race. We all had the same idea, use it as training. Then we saw the weather was calling for rain the day before, Great, now I will be racing a race I really didn't want to do, in the mud, Yipee. Joining us in our little group were Jeffery and Gunnar doing a two man duo. Brian and Randy were running support.

While driving down in the pouring rain L Webb, Brian and I decided to get a room, rather than camp in the rain. Jeb and Gunnar decided to tough it out and camp, good on them. We headed into town for dinner. We were told Fireworks Pizza was the place to go, good food and a great beer selection. Problem was it was an hour wait, which I was willing to do, but everybody else wanted to go to the Mexican place down stairs. The food was good, but I paid for it later with several trips to the bathroom. Glad we were in a hotel.

Come race day our plan was simple, just ride our race and see what happens. We didn't know who our competition was, our what place we were in for the first 10 hours of the race. The course conditions were tough, it was muddy, but completely ridable. They even added a new section that made the course a little longer, it was a 9.5 mile lap this year. After my first lap I realized I really hated that new section. It felt like it was uphill the whole time. After our first rotation someone suggested we do double laps. I wasn't a fan of that idea and I bitched about it a lot, but I sucked it up and did my double. The first lap was great, I felt OK and rode with Chris Nystrom the whole lap. After the first I took a beer feed and headed out for my second. That one really hurt. I immediately drank the rest of my beer when I got back.

At one point Ben said he thought his transponder didn't register a lap, I didn't think much of it. About 10 hours into the race L Webb went to check and see if the lap got counted. She came back and said it was counted and that we were winning by 18 minutes. I was shocked, I was thinking maybe we could squeak out a top ten, but to be winning this late in the race, Holy Cow. Then it dawned on me that I wasn't going to be able to just noodle around on my last lap, I actually had to race. We all did 1 more lap to end up with 15 as a team, and we did end up winning by close to half an hour. I still can't believe we pulled this off. I guess sometimes being consistent and having great support pays off. I can't thank Brian, Randy, and Ben's girlfriend and her daughters for all there help.

I can honestly say it was fun, but I will Never race Bakers Dozen again. Time for something different.